11-23-2007, 06:36 AM
Quote:If they need to make it so all mages have IB, they're basically rehasing the Nef fight's class calls which would be fairly boring now matter what you try to do. If that's their reasoning to make it so all mages have IB, I say to them, go rethink your fight and come up with a better mechanism than to have a one trick solution of turning a talent into a class skill. All the other talents they shifted to class skills prior to this were necessary, but to design fights around the Nef class call aspect to justify giving a talent as a class skill is silly and wasteful time spent (and probably boring for every raider that has seen that type of fight).
It may be all of those things, but if they're doing it, they're doing it. Nef is a great example, but instead of saying that they might copy it, I prefer to take it as an example of how they can make creative encounters that challenge every class in different ways, and that they certainly can do it again in Sunwell.
Even if it doesn't specifically require Ice Block, one thing to keep in mind is that any form of environmental damage that inflicts a roughly equal amount of damage to anyone it hits automatically hits mages proportionately harder. Because Blizzard is so attached to including Spirit on mage gear, mages have among the least stamina of any class, and lack the priest's ability to shield and heal to counteract low hit points. (As an aside, redesigning Evocation to be a percentage of maximum mana and gutting Arcane spec has made all the Spirit completely worthless, causing ~15-20% of itemization points on even Tier 6 gear to go to waste.) Proper employment of Ice Block can at least negate one or two attacks. Obviously it's not the same as having more stamina, but "different but equivalent" is part of the goal of balance.